American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Stake Boosted by Inceptionr LLC

Inceptionr LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 102.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,191 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 2,631 shares during the period. Inceptionr LLC's holdings in American Tower were worth $952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in American Tower by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,924,091,000 after buying an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of American Tower by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $975,065,000 after purchasing an additional 107,345 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of American Tower by 0.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $981,455,000 after purchasing an additional 38,436 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AMT. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, JMP Securities started coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $225.21.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Tower Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of AMT traded up $5.56 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $212.49. 3,599,419 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,227,224. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $189.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $206.30. The company has a market cap of $99.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This is a positive change from American Tower's previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. American Tower's payout ratio is currently 134.72%.

American Tower Profile

American Tower, one of the largest global REITs, is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate with a portfolio of over 224,000 communications sites and a highly interconnected footprint of U.S. data center facilities.